What's on My Bench???

Some of our team members live close enough to get together in real life.  I’m one of those lucky team members and so is Gloria of EarthEnergyGemstones!  In true JET fashion, we decided to get together and play.  Gloria was interested in learning how to create bezels and set stones in them.  And a play date was had!!

Fine silver bezel strip is most commonly used.  It’s pre-formed and comes in various widths to encircle various sized of stones.  Stones cut en cabochon are most commonly set, but you can also set faceted gems.

            • 1.       Select a stone to set.

            • 2.       Measure your bezel height.  Hold the wire next to the stone.  It should be about 1 mm taller than the juncture where the stone’s wall starts to form a curve.

            • 3.       Wrap your wire around the stone and mark where the wire starts to overlap.  Cut just past the mark with a pair of snips.  

            • 4.       Form the wire circle to closely fit the stone and make sure edges line up exactly.  No Gaps!

            • 5.       Dip your silver in a firescale prevention solution (2 parts denatured alcohol to 1 part boric acid crystals).  

            • 6.       Set on your fire safe surface.  Set the bezel such that the seam sits directly on top of a piece of hard solder chip paillon.  

            • 7.       Paint flux on seam.

            • 8.       Heat with torch until solder chip melts and closes the seam.

            • 9.       Pickle and rinse.

            • 10.     Cut sheet silver to make a back plate for the bezel.  

            • 11.     Repeat solder steps from above to solder bezel onto the back plate using several medium solder chips placed inside the circle where the bezel touches the back plate.  

            • 12.     Pickle and rinse

            • 13.     Using the snips, cut excess sheet silver and sand until smooth and round.

Now we have a bezel we can set a stone in.  You can do just about anything with a bezel.  You can make into a ring, and earring, or a pendant.   Today we’ve made a ring for our little moonstone cab.  We’ve placed our ring into a vice in order to push the bezel over the stone to secure it.

            • 1.       With a bezel pusher, push the bezel horizontally around the stone in a North, South, East, West fashion so that the stone is in the center.  Continue all the way around the circle. 

            • 2.       Now push the bezel down at the top edge, holding your bezel pusher at about a 50 degree angle.  It should be smooth and flush against your stone. 

            • 3.       Using a steel burnisher, smooth out the silver to polish the edge of the bezel. 

            • Ta-Da!!  

Jennifer

WearablebyDesign